Talking Happiness: Symposium

Jennifer De Paola, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and researcher with a fascination for how ordinary people understand life’s biggest questions. Her research on happiness—particularly its cultural aspect in Finland—has been published in top social sciences journals like Public Understanding of Science, Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, and Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science. Along the way, her research has sparked conversations on international platforms, including interviews on BBC TV and Business Insider.

With some 25 translations to date, the book “Soft City” has established David Sim as a thought-leader in urban livability and sustainability planning. David started his architecture studies in his native Scotland but after hearing Jan Gehl’s lectures he moved to Scandinavia to complete his education. After a distinguished career teaching architecture at Lund University in Sweden, where he received the student-nominated “the teacher of the year” prize, he spent 17 years at the renowned Gehl urban planning practice, most notably as Creative Director, seeing it grow from four people in an attic to a world brand with offices in Copenhagen, New York and San Francisco. A well-respected practitioner, David Sim has an impressive portfolio, personally leading master plans, urban strategies and design work across the globe, from the Highlands of Scotland to the lakes of Patagonia, from suburban Melbourne to downtown Tokyo, from finding new ways to build IKEA stores to rebuilding Christchurch after the devastating 2011 earthquake. Based in Sweden, David Sim now works for his own independent consultancy company, making cities, towns, suburbs and villages softer.

SUPERFLEX was founded in 1993 by Jakob Fenger, Bjørnstjerne Christiansen, and Rasmus Rosengren Nielsen. Conceived as an expanded collective, SUPERFLEX has consistently worked with a wide variety of collaborators, from gardeners to engineers to audience members. Engaging with alternative models for the creation of social and economic organisation, works have taken the form of energy systems, beverages, sculptures, copies, hypnosis sessions, infrastructure, paintings, plant nurseries, contracts, and public spaces.

Working in and outside the physical location of the exhibition space, SUPERFLEX has been engaged in major public space projects since their award-winning Superkilen opened in 2011. These projects often involve participation, involving the input of local communities, specialists, and children. Taking the idea of collaboration even further, recent works have involved soliciting the participation of other species. SUPERFLEX has been developing a new kind of urbanism that includes the perspectives of plants and animals, aiming to move society towards interspecies living. For SUPERFLEX, the best idea might come from a fish.

Isabel + Helen is a London-based design studio known for their interdisciplinary practice that explores the intersection of kinetic sculpture, performance, and spatial installation. Formed by Isabel Gibson and Helen Chesner, their collaborative work investigates the poetry of movement, form, and function, often using everyday materials to transform simple mechanisms into captivating visual narratives. Driven by a hands-on approach and a shared curiosity for how things move and function, Isabel + Helen continue to push the boundaries of material and mechanical experimentation. Blurring the boundaries between art, design, and engineering, Isabel + Helen’s work is marked by a minimalist aesthetic and a fascination with repetition, rhythm, and physical process. Their installations often operate as live systems—machines and objects that perform, react, and evolve—inviting viewers into a meditative relationship with time and motion.

The Happiness Symposium will be moderated by Oli Stratford, a London-based writer and the editor in chief of Disegno.